


The Swirl and Swing of Words

by Rachaelizame



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-10 11:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7842823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachaelizame/pseuds/Rachaelizame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmates are an important part of every culture. It's not uncommon to have many soulmates- romantic and platonic. But what do you do when all your new coworkers turn out to be your soulmates?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspiration from the quote "I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." Also, in case it wasn't clear, basically the story is they're all soulmates- either platonic or romantic. I don't outright state which each is unless it becomes romantic, so you can assume whatever one you like.

Kira hadn’t written anything on her arms since she was a little girl. Those damn soulmates of hers had gotten her in enough trouble already. Having multiples soulmates was already somewhat uncommon, having soulmates who didn’t know when to shut up was trouble. Ever since the Occupation began, Bajorans rarely found their soulmates and certainly not through the writing. No one wanted to risk putting their soulmate in danger, platonic or romantic.

When she was little, she used to talk to the others. She was scared and she’d wish the Cardassians would just go away. The others often would rush to comfort her- usually doodles of varying artistic ability since they’d quickly learned that many of them spoke different languages. It was nice that they tried to help, but they couldn’t really help at all.

When she was twelve years old, she decided to grow up. There was no place for soulmates when she had to fight for her freedom. She stopped her writing.

 

Six year old Jules Bashir wanted to know something. He knew about soulmates- kind of, he could never quite understand what they meant- but he wanted to know about them now. He didn’t want to wait like Mum and Dad said he had to. He grabbed a pen and tried to articulate his question, but he didn’t always understand words right. After fruitless doodling, he wandered over to Mum.

“Who are they?” he asked, pointing to his arms. Mum frowned at him before understanding. Jules slumped a little. He’d done something wrong again.

“Your soulmates?” And there was another point against him. Mum and Dad weren’t sure how to feel about him having more than one, no matter that it wasn’t that unusual. Jules nodded empathically anyway.

“We don’t know. We can’t know until we meet them, and even then it might take a while.”

“Write it,” Jules said. Mum sighed.

“I’ve told you, darling, the soulmarks won’t transfer names.” Jules was briefly sidetracked by wondering about that, before he spoke again.

“Write it!” he demanded. Finally, Mum bent down and took the pen.

“If you insist.” She carefully wrote out the words who are you? Jules smiled, waiting for a response. The first came in in writing he didn’t understand. He tried showing it to Mum, but this time she didn’t know it either. Other responses were slow in coming.

 

Jadzia jumped when the words appeared on her arm. She couldn’t read them, but she thought she recognized Federation Standard. That was interesting. She put that aside to consider later, and ran to her closet. She pulled out her rainboots and umbrella and headed for the door. She knew she wouldn’t be allowed to go if she told anyone, so she snuck out the back and headed for Berlia’s house.

Berlia lived down the block. She was three years older than Jadzia and in the process of learning Federation Standard. She wasn’t very far yet, but maybe she could translate this. Jadzia banged her hand against the door to Berlia’s house, only stopping when it began to open.

“Jadzia?” Berlia’s father questioned.

“My soulmark! My soulmark is in Federation Standard!” She jumped up and down as she spoke.

“Ah. And you’d like to speak to Berlia about it?” He smiled at her enthusiasm as Jadzia nodded impatiently. He ushered her in and pointed out Berlia studying at the table.

“Berlia, I need you to translate this!” She demanded. Berlia looked up, stunned.

“I- I guess I can. Give me a second.” She peered down at the words, frowning.

“Oh. It just says ‘who are you’,” Jadzia pouted, wondering how she was supposed to answer that. Suddenly, an idea came to her.

“Do you have markers I can borrow?”

 

A few minutes later, on another world, a picture appeared on Jules Bashir’s arm. It appeared to be a young girl with dark hair and blue eyes. She had spots all along the side of her face. Jules recognize that! He knew all about aliens. That was a… a Trill! One of his soulmates was an alien!

It wasn’t long before similar drawings began pouring in from his other soulmates- all except the first responder. Jules grabbed his markers and started to draw.

 

Miles O’Brien grew up with two soulmates for most of his life. This was expected. This was normal. Usually everyone had two or three, usually a Romantic and a Platonic. He’d chatted with his two before and they seemed like good people, people he’d enjoy being around. Of course he would, they were his soulmates after all. And it had been good.

But now here he was, twenty years old with little faces being drawn onto his skin. And little was definitely the operative word here. There were, of course, his two soulmates he knew of- he recognized their handwriting by now- but it was clear the rest were by small, clumsy hands. That one looked like a four year old drew it! Obviously most of these were going to be platonic. Still, this many soulmates was unusual.

He wished there were a way he could confide in someone without the younglings knowing, but no one except the others would understand. He sighed, pushed it to the back of his mind, and grabbed a pen.

 

Benjamin Sisko was twenty three years old when one of his soulmates stopped writing. Given what the kid had been writing about since she learned to write- he naturally feared the worst. After months of no contact, he naturally grieved for the kid he’d never know. His first- and only as far as he was concerned- romantic soulmate Jennifer grieved with him, knowing her husband had lost someone who would have been dear to him.

So, he was rather surprised when, one day, words again appeared in that foreign tongue. He laughed, delighted and hurried to tell Jennifer. Similar responses were seen from all the girl’s other soulmates, romantic and platonic. Miles and Keiko O’Brien simultaneously turned to other, grinning. Jadzia jumped up and down in place in front of all her fellow initiates. Similarly, Julian Bashir tried to jump up from his classwork in excitement, but got his legs tangled in the library chair. Odo frowned down at what was currently an arm, unsure how to react to all this soulmate business. But he was somewhat pleased that the humanoid wasn’t dead.

 

Meanwhile Kira Nerys had jotted down the words “to keep you safe” and false information on her arm, hoping the Cardassian who was about to search her believed her stupid enough to actually write down sensitive information. She needed to buy time. She had no idea the reactions her simple plan had caused worlds away.


	2. Chapter 2

When Kira Nerys was born, three things were written on her arm. They were simple things, little reminders of what needed to be done that day, an intricately drawn flower, and an appointment time. But what was most important to Kira Meru and Taban was that the words were in Federation Standard. Somehow, someway, she was going to get out.

Now, Kira Nerys was furious. She couldn’t believe the Federation was sending out officers to the station. Some people might look on this as being fortunate, both for being able to protect Bajor and for the opportunity to meet their soulmates- as this was the most likely way she’d meet those soulmates of hers speaking Fed. Standard- but she felt the Federation had no business here.

When she’d first been stationed here, her commanding officer had the audacity to claim it was in her best interests- “a chance to meet those lovely soulmates of yours”- rather than what it really was- a chance to push her out of the way. She had already met the Starfleet chief engineer and given him a run down on everything that happened. He, admittedly, seemed a good sort, and surprisingly he knew a lot about Bajoran customs. She could respect someone who learned those kinds of things about a place before coming there. She didn’t expect much from the rest of the Starfleet officers.

After everything that happened that day, when she was about to leave Ops for her quarters, she felt she’d been proven right. Most of the officers had either not said anything, or worse, said something offensive throughout the day. She groaned when she saw one of those people rushing up to her. It was the doctor, Dr. Bashir.

“What do you want?” she demanded. After what he’d said, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to chat. He blushed and held out an amazel flower. It was a traditional apology gift. But how would he know about that?

“Major. I wanted to say I’m sorry for what I said before.” He spoke.

“I did get that, from the flower,” she replied, unsure if she was willing to accept the peace offering.

“I should never have said something like that. I just- I guess I just didn’t think it through.”

“That’s the problem with Starfleet. They never think those things through.”

“I am truly sorry. I should have realized what that would sound like. I know there’s really no excuse, but I wanted to let you know I really didn’t mean to offend you.” Kira sighed.

“I figured you didn’t mean to. I’m sure you all have great intentions. That doesn’t take away the insult.”

“I know,” he said, not arguing further, to Kira’s surprise. It was that acceptance of her anger that made her reach out and take the flower, signaling her acceptance of his apology.

“I have a feeling this isn’t the last time I’ll get one of these from you,” she tried for a joke. She’d have to work with him for the foreseeable future, after all. He blushed harder.

“No, I imagine not. But I really would like to learn more about Bajorans. After all, I will be working here for a while yet, and I imagine I’ll meet quite a few during that time.”

“This is still a Bajoran station, yes. Though I’m impressed you learned about our apologies. How’d you figure that out?”

“Oh well, I did know a bit about Bajorans before coming here. See, I did have more than one reason to come out here. One of my soulmates is Bajoran, actually.”

“Oh! Well, you should know, Bajorans aren’t really used to finding their soulmates. They may react differently than you’d expect.”

“That’s okay. I’m not sure how I’ll react to meeting my soulmates either. I’m not exactly ready for that yet. But this seemed the most likely way of meeting them.”

“Well, good luck Doctor.” He furrowed his brow.

“Luck isn’t a Bajoran concept,” he said.

“You think you’re the only one with a soulmate from a different species?” He laughed.

“In that case, I think I ought to wish you luck as well, Major.”

-

The next day, yet another malfunction caused Kira to curse under her breath.

“Major!” Jadzia spoke in a mock scandalized tone. “What language!”

“How did you know what I said? Did one of the Daxes pick it up somewhere?”

“No, actually. Jadzia learned it. You see, in addition to speaking Trill and Federation Standard, she learned Dakhur Bajoran.” Unlike most Earth languages, Bajoran linguistic differences were minimal, more like dialects than different languages. Still, it was most common to learn one particular dialect to begin with.

“Really? Why?”

“One of my soulmates speaks it. I figured it would help when I finally met them.”

“You and Dr. Bashir should start a club. He has a Bajoran soulmate too.” Kira laughed. “It’s funny. I speak Dakhur.”

“Maybe you’ve met my soulmate, then.” Jadzia wondered.

“Maybe. It’s not likely though. There are so many people who speak it, and I really don’t know that many people.”

“Oh, come on Major. You know plenty of people. With all the work you did in the Resistance after all.” Kira shrugged.

“If you say so.” They went back to their work for a few minutes before Kira spoke again.

“You know, I’ve been wondering. How do Trill soulmates work?”

“Oh well, every Trill has their own soulmates. And joined Trill typically have more. It can be a sign of prestige on Trill to have more than one or two soulmates, since that’s usually a sign that that person will end up being joined. And you can inherit soulmates, which is interesting. Ben was soulmates with Curzon, and now he’s soulmates with me.”

“That must be interesting.”

“Yes, it is.”

-

Kira started it. She’d been putting off reconnecting with her soulmates for a long time now. She’d never been sure what to make of them. Now that she was older, she’d let go of some of the childish anger at them for not rescuing her, but it was hard to let go of such a strong emotion entirely.

-

Odo didn’t talk to his soulmates. He saw no point in this humanoid activity. He kept to himself, he didn’t need a group of random humanoids to connect with. That didn’t stop his soulmates from writing to him- though of course, they weren’t writing to him specifically. They had no way of knowing he existed. When the scientists had first found him, the writing had been indecipherable. The writing would shrink or grow to accommodate the size of whatever form he was in currently.

When he was first discovered, it had been too small to read, or even to notice it was soulmate markings. Eventually, he had shifted into a form where the words were recognizable, which was quite a surprise to Dr. Mora and the others. It was how they finally figured out that he was a living being. Of course, that didn’t change their treatment of him, though he did note that some of the scientists got reassigned after that.

What annoyed him most about the process was that when he was in his humanoid form, his soulmarks were always visible, unless he physically covered himself, which he couldn’t do, as it would get caught if he tried to shapeshift. Luckily, his soulmates didn’t write all that often. They had their conversations every once in awhile, but usually he had only had two or three markings on his hand.

Today, it was an equation from a few days ago, fading, and a brief good morning from his Bajoran soulmate. He ran into Chief O’Brien on the Promenade. The man stopped short when he saw him, frowning at Odo’s wrist.

“Chief O’Brien?” He prompted.

“Sorry!” The man met his eyes. “It’s just- did you write that?” He pointed at the greeting

“No. One of my… soulmates did.” Odo hated that word. It was an ancient term for the relationship, and no one had bothered to change it. Who was to say their supposed “souls” were bonded anyway?

“It’s just- that looks like the handwriting of one of my soulmates. And they wrote the same thing this morning.” Now Odo was intrigued.

“It seems we share a soulmate in common.”

“I wonder who it could be,” O’Brien said.

“It could be anyone. You’ve only just arrived on the station, I’m sure you don’t know many Bajorans yet.”

“Right. Right. Probably haven’t met them yet.” He stood awkwardly for a moment. “Well, I need to get to work.”

-

Odo wished he could avoid Quark, but the criminal’s behavior made that impossible.

“Hello, soulmate,” Quark’s irritating voice rang out. They’d discovered they were soulmates when a doodle of Quark’s had appeared on Odo. He’d been trying to ignore that fact ever since.

“Quark.” Odo had learned it was better not to argue when Quark called him that.

“What can I do for you?”

“I know,” Odo spoke.

“Know what?”

“I know you’re working with Arula.”

“Me? What would I be doing with him?”

“Humph. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“And you’re going to stop me. Come on, Odo, I know all about this song and dance. Why don’t you try and have some fun once in awhile?”

“Catching you in the act is fun, Quark.” With that, Odo stalked out of the bar. Quark rolled his eyes.

“What did I ever do to get stuck with him as a soulmate?”


End file.
